Social Policy Minister John Dalli said this evening that the government intended to continue pension reform with a view to concluding it.

Mr Dalli was speaking in Parliament during the debate in reply to the President’s Address at the state opening of Parliament.

Pension reform started two years ago when the government legislated for a gradual raising of the retirement age and the maximum pensionable wage.

The legislation also allows for the introduction of a compulsory second pillar pension and a voluntary third pillar. However the government had said at the time that the economic situation was not conducive to the introduction of mandatory contributions from workers and employers for the second pillar pension.

Mr Dalli said pension reform had to be resumed with dialogue and commitment by everybody so as to ensure that the people had an adequate pension and did not suffer a drop in living standards when they retired.

However, Mr Dalli said, pensions were not the only major issue with regard to the elderly. While it was good to have old people’s homes, the best way forward was to provide the support and services which would enable the elderly people to live within their environment. The government wanted to develop existing services and introduce new ones, but that created a demand for even more trained human resources, which were not easy to come by.

It was hoped that initiatives such as reorganisation would go some way to solving this major problem so that the state could provide even better community services as well as respite services.

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